Wedding Nails

My cousin got married last weekend (Congrats Hannah and Daniel!) and this is the mani I wore to the wedding.  I've been wearing it for over a week now, so it's in pretty good shape, considering.  I'm kind of sad about my corners breaking off.  That always happens when I try to go with a more square shape.

Colors used: Revlon Colorstay Bare Bones, Pure Ice Super Star, Revlon Gold Coin.

Inadvertent Galaxy

This was intended to be a sunset, but due to my inexperience with gradients and poor planning, it kind of turned into galaxy nails.  I've been meaning to try galaxies, so I guess I kind of did it by accident.  I think I will be revisiting this at some point. I love the result!

I think I'm getting better at the photography part of this.  I may need to invest in some new equipment at some point, though.  The Child keeps getting a hold of my fancy schmancy light box:

I can't really blame him.  Punching through the tissue paper is a lot of fun.



Colors used:  Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out, Wet 'n' Wild Wild Shine Blue Moon, Revlon Colorstay Midnight, Revlon Colorstay Buttercup, L.A. Colors Atomic, L.A. Colors Sparkling Diamonds and Loreal Steel Colour Hard Core (I've had this one for years.  I'm not sure they make it any more.  It's a bright pink coral creme.)

Mod Snake

For some reason, this pattern makes me think of some kind of snake or dragon curving across my nails.  It's inspired by a design I saw somewhere and I'd love to credit it, but I can't find it or remember which blog it's on.  In retrospect, I think I'd like an accent nail on this one, reversing the blue and taupe.  I realize my thumb got smudged, but by the time I noticed it I didn't feel like redoing it.

I'm still getting used to how every tiny little flaw shows up in photos, so I'm not sure if this really is as uber messy as it seems. It could definitely use a coat of Seche Vite, but I ran out.  I used Revlon's Quick Dry Top Coat, which is a decent replacement and works well over a solid color, but I'm not totally happy with it.  It doesn't dry nearly as quickly as I'd like, doesn't have the shine that SV does, and doesn't even out bumps and glitter like SV does. Also, mine has started to cause some bubbling recently and I'm not sure why.  I've heard good things about Out The Door, so I might try to track that down in the near future.

On a related note, I discovered the other day that my Walmart has started carrying SV, so I don't have to make a trip to Ulta or Sally when I need more. Yay!  Not that I don't want to go to Ulta, but it's kind of a dangerous store.  I want to buy ALL THE THINGS.

I used Revlon Gold Coin, Nicole by OPI  Khloe Had A Little Lam-Lam and something by Cosmetic Arts that didn't have a name.  It's kind of a warm taupe-y grey.

In The Mood For Sparkle

I had a rough day, so I felt like I needed a little happy on my nails and for me, happy is jewel tones and shimmer.  I also started this at 10:30, so I kept it simple.  This is Zoya Faye over Sally Hansen Save the Date.  Faye is really pretty under indoor lighting, but the sparkle really comes out in the sunlight.  I also love the depth that it gets when layered like this.

Jewel Tone Skittle

My husband pointed out that for a blog named Color-Happy, my first posts were not very colorful.  This was meant to be a rainbow, but I realized I only have one yellow, and no oranges, so this is about as close as it gets right now.  I also waited too late in the day to take pictures, so I didn't have the best lighting and the colors are not totally accurate.

I used:
OPI  Got The Blues For Red. This is a beautiful blue red.  I did two coats for this mani, but I usually do three to four with this color to get full opacity.

Revlon Colorstay Buttercup. A two-coat pale yellow.  I spotted these at Walgreens the other day and fell in love with several of the colors.  The formula is pretty good, not too thick or too thin, and goes on smoothly and covers easily with two coats.  Dry time is about average.

Zoya Dree. This is the first Zoya I've ever tried and I am totally sold.  Fantastic formula and beautiful color (I love it with gold). The only thing I'm not crazy about is the brush.  I tend to prefer a slightly flatter brush.

Revlon Colorstay Midnight. This is a dusty medium blue, slightly lighter than what's shown in the picture.

Borghese Palermo Plum. This is a deep reddish purple, almost in the fuchsia range, but darker.  It's a rich, jewelly color with a lot of depth for a creme.  I'm actually  a little bummed about the placement of the stamp on my pinkie because I feel it covers up too much of the color. Two thick coats or three thin ones.

All are stamped with Revlon Gold Coin and plate BM03.

Happy New Year!

This is my New Year's Eve mani and overall I'd say I'm fairly happy with it. My technique is a little lacking, but that's mostly a result of my own impatience and indecisiveness.  This mani represents several firsts for me: first blog, first blog post (with actual content), first black nails, first ruffian (index finger), and first stamping attempt that wasn't a practice run.

I used Revlon Silver Dollar and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out.  Black Out covers well with one coat (unless you're putting it over silver, apparently)

Introduction

I've always loved doing my nails and have done some simple nail art in the past, but have only recently become more seriously interested in the world of polishes, nail blogs, and nail art.  Nail art is so transient and it always makes me a little sad to destroy what I've put effort into creating, no matter how simple.  I created this blog as a way to record my designs, swatches, and thoughts on polishes.